Word of the day – knothole

By Simon

The term knothole is used to refer to a block of stacked characters in a text that occurs when you have the same words or phrases repeated several times and the text is laid out in such a way that the words or phrases line up.

This is apparently quite a frequent occurrence in encyclopedias, which tend to have a house style for entries, which leads to quite a lot of repetition, and also in publications that use fairly narrow columns, such as newspapers and magazines.

Here’s an example:

an example of a knothole

Those concerned with page layout are trained to avoid such undesirable alignments of text.

Found via David Crystal’s blog.

Aural small print

By Simon

Aural small print is apparently one name for the incredibly fast disclaimers you sometimes hear at the end of radio ads, and also as a good name for a band, according to a commenter on this blog. These disclaimers often contradict and undermine whatever the ad was about.

Do you know if there is a standard or official name for such disclaimers?

Do you get them in other languages?

There are some quite amusing parodies of email disclaimers here, and here’s my disclaimer for this post (to be read as fast as possible with much mumbling):

This post has been hand-crafted from only the finest ingredients and should be read within 48 hours with the eyes no more than 3 feet (91.44 ml) from the screen and the head tilted to the left at an angle of 85.6 degrees fahrenheit (20cm). Bake for at least half an hour, then leave to cool. Do not read while driving, operating heavy machinery, eating bananas, or having a bath. Omniglot accepts no responsibility (picture top right). Your mileage may vary. Words may settle in transit. Terms and conditions apply. No purchase necessary. If symptoms persist, consult a doctor. Suitable for vegetarians. May contains traces of nuts. Not tested on animals. Contains no additives or preservatives. Would the last one to leave please switch off the lights. Thank you and good night.

Rapid Language Learning

By Simon

Today I came across an interesting article entitled Rapid Language Learning, in which Konstantin Ryabitsev from Russia gives details of how he managed to learning enough French to pass TEF (Test d’Evaluation de Français). At the time he wrote the piece (2004), he was in the process of immigrating to Canada, where they favour applicants with knowledge of both English and French. He already spoke English, so decided to learn French as well, as he was planning to move to Montreal, where he now lives.

At first he tried to learn to read French using a French translation of Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban, but soon found that too difficult because he wasn’t familiar with French grammar. So he got hold of a copy of Schaum’s Outline of French Grammar and after about four months of working his way through that, he was able to read the Harry Potter book, then managed to tackled Le Comte de Monte-Cristo.

After that, he started working on his understanding, speaking and writing skills, using flash cards and associations to learn vocabulary and practising listening and speaking while walking to and from work. He also watched TV programmes that had been dubbed into French, French TV programmes and films, and also tried listening to audiobooks, but didn’t find that very helpful.

You can find out more about his methods in the article. I find such stories interesting. The methods he used wouldn’t necessarily work as well for other people, but he does have some good suggestions.

Sglefrolio / Scátáil

By Simon

Oedd hi’n braf ddoe ac treuliais y prynhawn yn sglefrolio ar y promenâd, rhywbeth a wna i pan mae’r tywydd yn dda ac sdim pethau eraill ‘da fi i wneud. Wel, a dweud y gwir, fel arfer bydda i’n treulio mwy o amser yn sgwrsio gyda nghyfeillion nac yn sglefrolio.

Dechreuais sglefrolio pan yn wyf neu naw oed. Pan o’n i yn yr ysgol uwchradd, aethon ni sglefrio ar iâ ym Mlackpool ambell waith. Tra o’n i yn Nhaiwan, prynais sglefrolio inline a dechreuais yn sglefrolio yn ddifri. Ers hynny, dw i wedi sglefrolio ar bob achlysur mod i’n gallu, a dw i wedi cwrdd â llawer o bobl o bob cefndir trwy sglefrolio. Un o’r rhesymau pam mod i’n eisiau byw ym Mrighton oedd achos bod promenâd hir yma – lle addas iawn ar gyfer sglefrolio.

Skates

Bhí lá bréa ann inné agus chaith mé an tráthnóna ag scátáil ar an promanád, rud atá mé a dhéanamh nuair atá an aimsir go maith agus níl rudaí eile a dhéanamh agam. Bhuel, déanta na fírinne, bím ag caitheamh níos mó amser ag comhrá a dhéanamh le mo chuid cairde ná ag scátáil.

Thosaigh mé ag scátáil le scátaí rothacha nuair a bhí mé ocht nó naoi. Nuair a bhí mé sa mheánscoil, chuaigh muid ag scátáil i mBlackpool cúpla uair. Nuair a bhí mé i dTaiwan, cheanaigh mé scátaí inlíne agus thosaigh ag scátáil i ndáiríre. Ó shin beinn ag scátáil gach uair is féidir liom, agus chasainn le go leor daoine ó gach gairm bheatha trí scátáil. Mar atá promanád fada anseo – ait ar fheabhas ar scátáil – bhí réasún amhain cad chuige ba mhaith liom i mo chonaí i mBrighton.

Skates

It was a nice day yesterday and I spent the afternoon (inline) skating on the prom. When the weather’s good and I have nothing else to do, I go skating. Well, in fact I often spend more time chatting with my friends than actually skating.

I started rollerskating at the age of eight or nine. While at secondary school I went on a number of school trips to Blackpool where we went iceskating. I bought my first pair of inline skates while I was in Taiwan and started skating seriously. Since then I’ve skated whenever I can and have met many people from all walks of life through skating. One of the reasons I wanted to live in Brighton was because there’s a long promenade here – an ideal place for skating.

Sgwrs / Comhrá

By Simon

Ddoe ces i dau sgwrs ar MSN yn Gymraeg, ac oedd hynny y tro cyntaf ydw i wedi sgwrsio fel ny. Wel oedd un sgwrs yn Gymraeg yn bennaf gyda ychydig o Saesneg o bryd i’w gilydd. Dechreuodd y llall yn Gymraeg, yn wedyn parhaodd yn Almaeneg. Dwi’n dechrau teimlo yn mwy hyderus am sgrifennu y Gymraeg, ac y Wyddeleg hefyd, i raddau.

Inné rinne mé comhrá ar MSN as Breatnais, agus bhí sé an chéad uair a rinne mé comhrá mar sin. Bhuel bhí comhrá amhain as Breatnais den chuid is mó le beagan Béarla ó am go ham. Thosaigh an comhrá eile as Breatnais, agus ansin lean ar aghaidh as Gearmáinis. Tosaím ag mothaigh níos féinmhuiníneach agus Breatnais a scríobh, agus Gaeilge chomh math, ar bhonn is lú.

I had chatted to a couple of people in Welsh on MSN yesterday, and it was the time I’ve done that. Well one of the chats one mainly in Welsh, with a bit of English now and then, while the other chat started in Welsh, then continued in German. I beginning to feel more confident about writing in Welsh, and also in Irish, to a lesser extent.

Finger names

By Simon

Finger names

When chatting with some Japanese friends today, the subject of finger names came up for some reason – specifically what the different fingers are called in Japanese and English. It took quite a while to establish which finger corresponded to which name – to make this clear, I found a picture of a hand, added labels and uploaded it to my site.

This is what the fingers are called in those languages:

拇指 (boshi) / 親指 (oyayubi) lit. “thumb/parent finger” = thumb
人差し指 (hitosashiyubi) = lit. “person offering finger” = first finger / index finger
中指 (nakayubi) = middle finger
薬指 (kusuriyubi) = lit. “medicine finger” = third finger /ring finger
小指 (koyubi) = lit. “little finger” = fourth finger / little finger / pinky

In Latin the fingers are named thus:

Thumb = Polex
First finger = Demonstratus (pointer)
Second finger = Impudicus (gesticulates)
Third finger = Annularis (ring)
Fourth finger = Auricularis (removing wax from ear)

Their names in Welsh are as follows:

Thumb = bawd
First finger = bys troed (foot finger)
Second finger = bys canol (middle finger)
Third finger = bys y fodrwy (ring finger)
Fourth finger = bys bach (little finger)

and Irish they’re:

Thumb = ordóg
First finger = corrmhéar (odd finger)
Second finger = méar fhada (long finger)
Third finger = méar fáinne (ring finger)
Fourth finger = lúidín

What about in your language?

Reviving Sanskrit

By Simon

Recently the number of people studying Sanskrit, the best known of India’s classical languages, has been increasing, according to an article I found today. The piece mentions that there’s a lot of interest in Sanskrit both in India, and among India ex-pats in the USA and other countries.

Reasons for this include the booming Indian economy, which has lead more people to take an interest in India’s history, and also the efforts of a group called Samskrita Bharati, whose mission is to “bring the pan-Indian language back to the mainstream and lay the groundwork for a cultural renaissance”. There are more details of their work here.

In one village called Ganoda in Rajasthan, many of the people are apparently able to speak Sanskrit and use it to some extent in their everyday lives.

Do you speak Sanskrit or have you studied it? Are there any other places where Sanskrit is used as a community language?

Blog newydd / nua

By Simon

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I was thinking of starting a new blog to practice my the languages. Well I’ve finally made up my mind and have created one – Rywsut-rywfodd. I plan to write everything in Welsh and Irish for now, and might write in other languages from time to time.

The title means “somehow or other”, as in “somehow or other I will become fluent in Welsh and Irish, and as many other languages as possible”. The subtitle – meddyliau hap yn y Gymraeg / smaointe fánacha as Gaeilge – means “random thoughts in Welsh / random thoughts in Irish”. I hope to write frequently – this probably won’t be every day though. I might even have a go at audioblogging as well.

When writing a recent post, it struck me how few words Welsh and Irish have in common. The only one that stands out in that particular post is blasus/blasta (tasty). Most of the others are borrowings from English.

I believe this is the world’s first bilingual Welsh/Irish blog. I might be mistaken of course – if there are others out there, I’m sure you’ll let me know. What’s the most unusual combination of languages you’ve come across on a blog or website?